The Column
by sixhundredfeet
Summary: AU. Brittany Pierce only has one job to do each day. Write an interesting column to keep the readers of New York entertained and keep her boss happy. After a two month funk and a series of unfortunate events, she finds inspiration from something she didn't really expect.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One.

_October 7th_

_Today is one of _those _days_. _When the rain hitting your bedroom window, the soft sound of the thunder rolling in __and the grey sky perfect describe how you feel on the inside. It's funny how the universe works like that __sometimes, using mother nature as a way to reflect your emotions to the world. My mom always told me "God is just crying with you," or "There's always a rainbow after the storm," to make me feel better on these occasions. She always had a way of turning something sad into something positive. She was magic. Not in the cool, Harry Potter type of way, even though that would be pretty awesome, but she just knew all the right things to say. To me, that was pretty magical. I know she would have known exactly what to say on a day like today, and maybe by just imagining her words I can feel better. Right now, the only thing I want to do is curl up in bed and watch the rain fall down my window while listening to a __Boyz II Men CD__. The only reason I even got out of bed was to write this, for all of you. I'm sorry for not being the usually happy person for you all but no matter how bright and positive a person can be, these types of days will always creep up on you and for no reason you will feel like the world is ending and your life is going nowhere. That's how I feel right now, New York. I know I won't feel like this forever, or even tomorrow, but today is today and I'm not embarrassed to admit this is how I feel. I'm lonely, I'm sad, and I'm longing for something more. Something exciting, something worth jumping out of bed for. Is that such a bad thing? Maybe that way I can write something more exciting for you all, something other than walking in Central Park, my failed first dates with strangers, or Lord Tubbington's night time activities. You've all been wonderful so far, sticking with me and reading about my day to day life, even if most of the things I write about now are just me repeating myself. I hope for your sake, _and _for my sake, I find something exciting and entertaining for you all. I'm crossing my fingers for a Hogwarts letter._

_Always yours, New York._

_-B_

Brittany's eyes scanned the last line of the paragraph and she let out a small sigh, letting the newspaper fall to her side and her head fall back onto the pillow. That was _yesterday's _column. They were _yesterday's _feelings. She never expected to wake up that morning, look at the alarm clock on her bedside table and grown with annoyance a second day in a row. How was she going to explain to her readers that yet again she was feeling extremely down on herself? As much as she was upset with herself and how routine her life had become over the last few months, the last thing she wanted to do was put a downer on thousands of New Yorker's moods, for the second time that week. No, she wouldn't do that. Tearing her eyes away from the rain falling outside, she let out a huff as she kicked the sheets off her body and crawled out of bed with no effort whatsoever. It took all of energy just to lift her finger and press stop on the Boys II Men song that was currently playing on her iPod dock. Yeah, she really wasn't kidding. After stretching her arms above her head, she cracked her knuckles and sets upon opening her laptop to start today's column, which she had no doubt would end up sounding a lot like yesterday's.

* * *

October passed with a few small hiccups, including being groped up on the subway by a guy who smelled a lot like he just came from the sewage plant back in Ohio, losing a hundred dollars somewhere between walking from her apartment to a small park near by and not being able to find it once she realized, and even dropping her ice cream cone immediately after buying one from an ice cream truck that had driven away before she could buy another one.

Those gloomy days had still made an appearance but it definitely wasn't an everyday thing, something she was thankful for. Brittany was used to looking at the positives from life and just going with the flow of whatever happened, and accepting that the bad things in life happened for a reason. Her mother passing away when she was nineteen was a big thing she had to deal with, as it would be for anybody. Susan Pierce meant the world to Brittany. She was full of wisdom and advice, and amazing one liners that always seemed to put a smile on Brittany's face whenever she needed it.

It was on the down days that she missed her mom the most, and on top of that, felt extremely alone in a big city all by herself.

Of course she had a few friends that she could go out and get drinks with, the neighbours that she occasionally waved to on her way home from going out, a few co-workers she saw on and off when visiting the editorial office for the New York Post, the paper she writes for, but that was pretty much it. Her father hadn't been in the picture since she was very young, and her sister lived back in Ohio with her husband. They didn't really talk anymore. She tried to make up for the lonely feeling in her heart by being as friendly and polite to people as she could to make more friends, hoping it would be just like her first day of Kindergarten.

New York definitely wasn't like a playground and offering someone the other half of your sandwich didn't automatically make you friends. Brittany was pretty sure she just looked creepy to the last person she offered her lunch to. But it was definitely the effort that counted, and the squirrel she threw her bread crust to appreciated that effort a lot more than the person did.

November was worse than October. The anniversary of her mother's death passed and Brittany thought maybe she felt this weird down feeling because of that date, since that tended to happen every year. But never for this long or a month before it even happened. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she hoped she found something to pull her out of her funk soon. This wasn't like Brittany, this wasn't who she was or wanted to be. All she knew was that she needed _something_.

Usually Brittany wasn't the type of person to dwell on things or take situations too seriously, because what was the point of being sad? To her, being happy was a choice and even if she struggled with it sometimes, she still always chose to make herself feel better and do things that would lift her mood. But for the last two months her brain had decided to stay sad. It was like a huge dark hole that she couldn't escape, and if she tried to be happy she knew she would fail. But December was a new month, and her favorite holiday was approaching. She needed to shake this feeling and get back to being herself.

On December first, she did just that. She got up early, made herself eggs and bacon for breakfast and left her apartment with a smile on her face. By the time she got back home at four in the afternoon, her hair was dishevelled, her feet were killing her in the shoes she was wearing, on top of having wet socks, a blaring headache and her nose felt blocked. She spent most of her day at a mall window shopping, _not _shopping because her rent was due the next day, and had no choice but to walk home in the rain because everybody else kept getting to a taxi before her. She definitely wasn't in the best mood when she got inside and flopped down on her couch without even shutting her front door.

December second was slightly different. For starters, she had pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast and left her apartment early to go to a baseball game. She had never been to one before and she didn't really know any of the player's names, but there was a lot of people and something interesting was bound to happen. And sure enough, she was right. She just didn't like it. The guy sitting behind her dropped his hot dog down her back and stained her white shirt with ketchup and mustard, and all she got in return from him was an apologetic face and a napkin. She wasn't the type of person to give anyone the finger, but if she did, it would definitely be to that guy. So she sat through a boring game of baseball, not knowing who was winning or losing or what an inning was, with a stained shirt and a four year old kid who kept throwing nuts at her. Brittany loved kids, and actually had a smile on her face when the small boy turned his attention to her. If it had been a boy giggling and throwing things at her playfully, she would have laughed and joined in at throwing them back, but this boy's lips were pressed into a thin line as he harshly through the nuts in her direction. A frustrated "_I haven't even done anything!" _caused a scolding look from the boy's mom, who oddly had the same expression as her son, and Brittany had endured enough for one day. She left, picking peanuts out of her hair all the way back to her apartment.

December third was a little like December first. It was raining, _hard. _She didn't want to make the same mistake twice, so she brought a large colorful umbrella with her when she left. This time she went to a music store not far away from her apartment to see what new stock they had. The first sign of trouble was the lack of Britney Spears and Ke$ha CD's. They didn't even have a single Beyoncé or Jennifer Lopez CD. Just as she was about to ask someone why they didn't have any pop artists, she took a look at the guy front counter and suddenly got the idea of why they didn't. His entire wardrobe choice was all black, even his fingernails were painted, and he had a solemn look on his face as he flicked through a magazine called _Gothic Beauty_. She cleared her throat and sent the guy a small smile as she left the store without saying a word.

The next place she went was a cute little bakery on the same street that sold those extra large pink doughnuts, which were her favorite. The customer in front of Brittany bought the last one, leaving her with a choice of chocolate or caramel. Instead she ordered an apple pie with a frown of her face, and didn't have enough change to pay for it. Luckily the woman sympathised and let her off without paying the fifty cents. _Thankfully, _the rain was now just a light drizzle and she really didn't need her umbrella open anymore. Something she didn't notice as she was leaving the shop though, were the three construction workers placing a new sign above the Chinese restaurant next door to the coffee shop, and when she did it was too late. The first guy on the ladder had just finished securing the sign to the brick wall and leaned back to look at his work. That was a clear mistake as the ladder started wobbling uncontrollably, as the two guys underneath him tried to stabilise it which turned out to be no use. The guy and the ladder came falling down within the blink of an eye, the ladder in turn hitting the awning above the coffee shop and causing it collapse under pressure. Brittany, just happened to walk past as it was falling down, and caught the waterfall of rain water that came gushing afterwards. It was lucky that she didn't get hurt, but instead she was now drenched from head to toe. On top of that, her apple pie was ruined. The water sputtered from her mouth and she whipped around to see what had happened, rapidly moved the wet hair out of her face to get a better look. A look of confusion washed over her features and she didn't know what to think. All she could see where three nervous looking guys, one who had a weird limp. With a frustrated sigh, she let the ruined apple pie fall to the pavement and took her unopened umbrella with her on the way back to her apartment.

Three days of unbelievable misfortune, and weirdly every day ending with a warm shower with a frown on her face, she was exhausted. She felt like Jessica Alba out of that Good Luck Chuck movie. And she didn't like it.

It was on December forth that a small spark of hope was restored within her.

* * *

Just like the last three mornings, Brittany woke up to the beautiful sound of her alarm blaring loudly on the bedside table next to her. Even if the last couple of days had ended pretty badly and left her on the edge of tears before she went to sleep, it gave the readers something interesting to read. And her boss had praised her for getting out of her apartment and going on adventures, even if they turned out the way they did. Old habits die hard though, and she groaned at the annoying sound to her left and blindly switched it off without opening her eyes. After her shower the night before, she spent ten minutes trying to think of something that wouldn't end in disaster yet again and leave her feeling miserable.

Eventually she settled on hitting up a Starbucks on her way to Central Park, since the rain had finally stopped falling and nothing like yesterday could happen again. The most interesting people were found in those two places, and gave Brittany the most inspiration to write. Sometimes she found it a little odd, sitting at a park bench and observing the behaviour around her to get the write words forming in her mind. It was odd, but it always worked. And she highly doubted there would be any kids throwing peanuts at her there. Well, she was ninety-five percent sure.

She broke tradition of her fancy and large breakfasts, mostly because she didn't have the energy, and had a simple bowl of cheerios for breakfast. She spent fifteen minutes having a shower and getting dressed afterwards, praying that she wouldn't have to come back home and have yet another shower because of some unlucky incident. She stuck with a simple pair of grey skinny jeans, a large beige sweater and a maroon beanie. It was an odd choice of colors, but anything remotely odd always worked on her, or so she was told. On her way out of the way out of her apartment, she refilled Max's bowl of food and gently stroked the spot behind his ear. He purred in appreciation and she smiled softly down at him. "Wish me luck today." She whispered, giving him one last scratch before standing up and leaving her apartment. Max was of course, a beautiful white Persian cat who had a permanent grumpy look planted on his face. Brittany being Brittany always made sure Max had enough toys to keep him happy for a lifetime, perhaps hoping that would change the sour look on his face, but she had come to terms with and accept that it was just a part of Max's personality. He made her feel a little less lonely when she came home each day.

_It's going to be a good day, _she reminded herself mentally. Did one part of her believe that? No. She had told herself that same mantra the last three days, hell even _two months,_ and she was always left with that same feeling when she crawled into bed at night. For a moment she considered that maybe she needed to start going out at night more, maybe go back on the dating scene, but she really couldn't find it in herself to be happy. What kind of person would she be if she relied on someone else to make her happy?

Shaking her head of these thoughts, Brittany finally hit the pavement outside of her apartment and started walking in the wrong direction. Once she was halfway down the street she realized and gritted her teeth in annoyance. She really hoped that it wasn't step one of another bad day. How many of those could she even take before she had a nervous break down? This was probably the breaking point. She took a deep breath to ease some of the frustration and turned around to walk in the right direction. The walk from her apartment to the nearest Starbucks wasn't long and she soon found herself in a line full of suited men, all talking on their phones and carrying briefcases, probably stopping by before going to a place they all probably called "the office". She couldn't help but let out a small snort at her luck of being held up by the most typical line of people at the most typical place in New York. She really even shouldn't be surprised, this was a typical Thursday for her. It was a long fifteen minutes later when the line had moved down enough and she was finally able to order a simple hot chocolate, being guilty by ordering it in one of those super large take away cups as well, just like everybody else in line did. It wasn't a caffeine hit like theirs, so that definitely didn't make her like everyone else in New York. If it was hot chocolate, it was _different_, she convinced herself.

After waiting another five minutes for her drink, with Brittany tapping the counter with her fingers to pass the time, as much as everyone around her hated it, could finally leave business central otherwise known as Starbucks and back into the smell of fresh air. As much as Brittany hated it, Central Park wasn't right around the corner from her place so of course she had to hail a cab, which unfortunately didn't have any heating on a cold day like today. None of them ever did. But, that's what a hot chocolate came in handy for. Her day wasn't a total disaster just yet. She took a tentative sip of her hot chocolate as she waited on the curb for the closest one to pull up and sure enough a few moments later, a shiny yellow taxi pulled up to her rescue. Of course the cab driver turned to look at her, giving her a creepy once over and a weird waggle of his eyebrows. Repulsing. Brittany offered a fake smile and flicked the hair out of her face. "Central Park." She said loudly, his eyes shifting north to look up at her. He cleared his throat and nodded, turning back to look at the road. Where they should be.

Brittany's forehead stayed planted against the glass window the entire cab ride as she watched the tall buildings pass by outside, and the occasional really tall person that came into her line of sight. Since it was almost nine o'clock on a Thursday morning, the roads and streets were a lot busier than what they would be on the weekend. She let out a small huff of frustration, and then watched how her breath fogged up the window, when they got stuck in traffic. And it was a _lot_ of traffic.

"Looks like there was an accident up 'ere," the cab driver spoke, with some kind of thick accent she didn't recognise. "Might be stuck 'ere a while." He added.

All Brittany heard from what he was saying that she was now stuck in a cab, with a creepy foreign driver who's moustache was almost as big as his level of creep, sitting on cold leather with the only warmth coming from her cup of hot chocolate, because of a car pile up. "Great," she mumbled to herself, but the raise of eyebrow the cab driver sent her was a small indication that he definitely heard her.

_Forty _minutes passed. The slowly edging traffic was driving Brittany crazy, this was definitely _not_ a good day at all. She was almost tempted to just give up and go back to her apartment before anything worse happened, but she definitely did not just sit in a cab with a guy who kept muttering something about _voluptuous_ _curves _for nothing. Whatever bad luck streak she had been on recently would hopefully die down once she got to one of her favorite places. Besides, what could go wrong in a park of all places? Her forehead which had still been resting against the window peeled off in a hurry when she sat up straight. It hurt, and there was definitely going to be a mark there, but she just realised a list of things that could _definitely _go wrong in a park. Maybe she still had time to turn around and go back to her apartment, and she was just about to open her mouth and tell Mr. Voluptuous when he beat her to it. "We're 'ere."

She must have been zoning out when she was looking out the window before, because when she looked back it was definitely Central Park staring back at her. Her mouth shut and formed into a small frown. Hopefully, just _hopefully_ she didn't get ran over by a team of cyclists practising in the park, one of the worst scenarios she came up with a few moments ago. "How much?" She asked in a sad tone, digging into her pocket to find her purse.

"One hundred and twenty two dollars and seventy-five cents." He replied, keeping his face blank.

Brittany's face however, was anything but blank. "Are you kidding me? We were in traffic for like an hour, I'm really supposed to pay for all of that? You're joking."

The cab driver, _Lou _she read on his name tag, gave a half tsk noise which almost sounded like 'shit happens' and stared blankly back at her.

"I don't have that much on me. That's ridiculous!" She groaned loudly and ran her hand through her hair in anger. All _Lou_ did for the entire road was focus on his rear view mirror, which was definitely not focusing on the road or cars behind them.

"I'll tell you what Miss," Lou shuffled in his seat so he could face her properly, a small smug look crossing his face. Brittany didn't like where this was going. "It can be a hundred and twenty, or you lift up your shirt for me and I'll drop it to just twenty for ya."

Brittany's eyebrows hit her hairline at this deal and her mouth was left slightly agape. Surely he couldn't be serious?

"Just one boob."

* * *

She wasn't proud. She really wasn't proud. But what other choice did she really have? She wasn't the kind of person to just get out of the car and run, hoping he wouldn't catch up to her. On the other hand, she really couldn't afford to spend that much on a simple taxi ride. Hell, he probably boosted the price on purpose just to get her to do that. Something Brittany had learnt, there sure was a lot of assholes in this city. Whether it be at baseball games, coffee shops, or in taxi's, she was definitely having a hard time finding a genuinely good person.

Adjusting her shirt around her waist line, she looked up at the Park in front of her from the curb and let out a small breath of relief. Sure, she was like an hour overdue, but at least now she was here. The taxi behind her finally tore off down the road, and she couldn't help but watch it go with a twinge of annoyance. Screw it, if anyone deserved it, it was this guy. Holding her notepad and pen in one hand, she held up her right hand and tried to put all of her frustrations into giving the distant taxi the finger. Oddly it gave her a sense of relief, and she added a mouthed '_Jerk!_' to go with it. She dropped her hand with a small satisfied smile, and turned to walk towards the park but stopped short when she noticed she had an audience. A mother who was holding her toddler's hand was giving her a harsh judgemental look after what she just did to the taxi, and started to direct her son away from Brittany as quickly as possible.

"Oh God, no! I never do that to people, trust me! I'm a good person!" She tried desperately to tell the mother as she was hurrying her child along the footpath quicker at Brittany's words. Brittany's shoulders slumped when she was out of earshot and she was left with a terrible feeling in her stomach. Surely, all of this had to be the city's fault. She was probably classed as a real New Yorker now, and she wasn't sure if she liked that or not. She gave another small sigh, and finally walked along the footpath into the park. It was a whole different story there. It was a nice escape from the men and women in business suits, always in a rush to get somewhere. There were people on bikes, kids on play dates with other children, what looked like a mom's group of women, another group of women working out and following their insanely attractive trainer's instructions, while drooling over him at the same time, and the occasional person walking their dog. It was quiet and peaceful, and despite the occasional tourist who would scream in excitement and ask the person with them to take a picture, she really needed to go there more often.

Brittany wondered through the large park, observing people and looking for the motivation she needed. Sometimes, and by sometimes she meant twice, _months _ago, she would see a really adorable and romantic gesture from one person to another and she would tell all of her readers, and tell them to keep their hopes alive if they're scared they'll never find love. That was the kind of inspiration she needed. So far all she really got inspired by was a small girl who was feeding the ducks by the pond and laughing whenever they would dunk their head under water. She couldn't help but smile at the girl, because it was almost like an exact replica of her when she was little. Well, Brittany still got excited over ducks now, but still. It was something that made Brittany grin, until another little girl came over to feed the ducks next to the replica, only to have the replica push her over and scream '_my ducks!_' and go back to feeding them. Her mother scolded her and rushed over, but Brittany's face morphed into horror for a moment, until it switched into one of annoyance. The people of New York, seriously.

As she continued walking along, she almost got ran over by a lone cyclist which ended in her having a mini panic attack over the fear she had in the taxi, so she moved to the walk on the grass instead. Unfortunately there were no grand gestures of romance or proposals, and she was running out of options. She had already been there for an hour, searching and desperately looking for something positive to write about for once. If at least one stranger complimented her on her appearance, _that _would be inspirational and give her something to write about. But nothing. The closest thing she had to that was 'voluptuous curves' and she really had no idea what that meant.

She was giving up. She was honestly giving up on this attempt to find something amazing to write about. She would probably never find it again, and be forced to quit her job and sell her body to make rent money. That was probably a little over dramatic, but she was at that point of frustration and giving up that the idea actually sounded inviting, so she let out a long sigh and turned on her heel. She was going back home to curl up in her bed, where everything was safe and nothing bad would happen to her. If the last three days were anything to go by, it probably would. Like her bed never warming up and being stuck in cold sheets, or bed swallowing her whole or something. Anything could really happen.

It was the most frustrating thing in the world how on her way back to where she arrived, everything that could go bad, did. For some reason she kept dropping her notepad, like her fingers were covered in oil or something, and she would always drop it at the worst time. Just as a large group of people were walking by, or when someone was about to walk into her. And people definitely did bump into her. Her twenty minute walk was full different disasters, someone even dropped their ice cream down her pant leg and left her with a nice white stain that she couldn't cover up. That was wonderful. The last straw was a woman who would have been in her late thirties, who was power walking and listening to music at the same time. She didn't notice Brittany until the last second and pushed straight into her, sending her straight to the ground. Her palms scraped against the pavement painfully, not to mention how much it hurt to have your rear hit the ground first, and her notepad went flying off to the side. The woman who had been walking had only fell back a few steps from their collision and was left in shock for a few seconds. Looking down at Brittany, her face turned from shock to annoyance. "Watch where you're going!" She said with a heavy New York accent, walking around Brittany and carrying on with her power walking.

Brittany sat in shock for a few seconds, trying to work out if that had really happened. Bringing her palms up to inspect them, she saw tiny pieces of gravel in there and a small amount of blood. Yes, it definitely happened. Anger flared up inside of her and she let out the loudest groan and had in two months.

"You have _got _to be kidding me!" She yelled to no one in particular, huffing as she picked up her notepad and scurried back to get on her feet. Instead of going the normal route back to where she got dropped off, she turned onto a different pathway and strode forward. All she wanted to do now was get home safely without anything else pissing her off. This pathway had a lot less people and was a lot less secluded, so the chances of something bad were fifty percent less now. Who knows, lightening could a tree near her or something. Making it fall down, onto her. Crushing her legs and leaving her paralysed from the waist down. Brittany's mind was racing with things that could go wrong as she walked, quite angrily, down the pathway that what she soon saw in front of her almost put her into shock. She stopped right where she was, slightly out of breath from how much she had been walking when she focused on what was in front of her.

Not many people were around. In fact there was only about eight people mulling around. She was right next to a lake, with ducks of course, while the lake was surrounded with seats and places for people to sit. She wasn't interested in any of the scenery, or how quiet it was, or even the ducks. No, she was focused entirely on something else.

Brittany watched a woman who was sitting on one of the benches, wearing a grey office skirt and a white button up shirt, rolled up to the elbows, sipping on a cup of coffee that didn't look to be from Starbucks and eating what looked to be a toasted cheese and ham sandwich. None of those things were what caught Brittany's attention. This woman, was definitely one of the most attractive people Brittany had ever seen. If not, the most attractive. She was gorgeous, she was insanely beautiful, and she left Brittany's mouth slightly ajar and all she was doing was eating her lunch. This woman had dark brown hair that fell in soft natural curls down to the middle of her back, tanned skin that showed she was definitely Hispanic, and the most amazing pair of legs Brittany had ever seen, period. She was staring and she couldn't help it. The poor woman was just eating her lunch and looking over something in her lap, some kind of document. Obviously for work.

Brittany could easily appreciate a good looking man or woman, and she really did appreciate the woman in front of her. She might even consider going up and talking to her if she didn't have drying ice cream on her pants and didn't look like she was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. Regathering herself, she cleared her throat slightly and made a move to keep walking but stopped when she spared one last glance at the brunette in front of her. A lone duck and waddled it's way up and was sitting in front of the woman, staring just like Brittany was.

The woman must have felt something close to her, because she moved the document away and looked down at the duck looking up hopefully. Her face stayed blank and she chewed on the piece of bread in her mouth. Figuring out what the duck wanted, her gaze moved to the sandwich and back to the duck. "No." She simply said, and picked up her document again, acting as if nothing had happened. A small part of Brittany was disappointed, figuring she was just like every other person in New York. But for some reason she couldn't pull here eyes away or send the brain signals to her legs to keep walking. The duck started quacking loudly to get the woman's attention again, and sure enough the woman dropped the document and tried to shush the duck while looking around to see how many people's attention she had unfortunately gained. Just as she was about to look in Brittany's direction, Brittany threw herself behind the nearest tree and held her breath. She didn't want to be caught staring, she would probably just think she was a freak for just standing there and watching.

Hearing more noise, Brittany glanced around the tree at the woman who now had a small army of ducks surrounding her, quacking loudly at the sandwich in her hand. She could see the woman starting to get agitated over the noise and the attention she had gained in the process, since everyone else was now looking at her. "You know what? Here. Take it! Take _allllll_ of it." The woman said to the ducks around her as she started breaking of pieces of her sandwich to the ducks, leaving nothing for herself. "There, you happy?" she said to them in a annoyed tone, then picked up her coffee and documents. Brittany swore she could hear her mumbling in another language as she walked down the pathway and out of sight, over the happy sounds the ducks were making at getting so much food from her.

Feeling like some kind of stalker, Brittany moved from behind the tree and back onto the footpath, watching the ducks fight over the bigger pieces. Her gaze then looked back up to where the woman had walked off in a hurry and felt a smile tug at her lips. She definitely was not like the typical New York person she came across. What she just witnessed was the most adorable and endearing thing she had seen in a long time. Looking back down at the notepad in her hands, she could feel the words forming in her mind of what to write down for all of New York to read. Something like this would surely make anyone smile. There was good in the world. There were good people. She just witnessed it, for the first time in quite a long time. An even bigger smile stretched across her face when she realized just how quickly one person could change her giving up attitude, and completely inspire her. She had something to write. She had the words, she had the story, she had everything. All she had to do was get back to her apartment and write them all down. She walked carefully around the ducks and the dishevelled pieces of sandwich, towards one of the main roads at the end of the pathway.

Not one bad thing happened to her one her way home.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two.

_December 4th_

_You would never believe the day I had. It was something straight out of a bad rom com movie, preferably one with Jennifer Aniston. Or Kate Hudson. I can never decide between the two. No wait, Katherine Heigl. Perfect. It started terribly, and I won't even mention what I had to do to get out of paying a ridiculously large taxi fare. Lou, if you're reading this, I hope the next customer you deal with isn't as cooperative as I was. But today I went to Central Park. I saw a little girl who looked exactly like me when I was little, who was feeding the ducks like it was the best thing in her life. Obviously it is definitely one of the best feelings in life, I would know. But she pushed another poor innocent girl when she wanted to feed the ducks too, and it almost made me feel sick. I hope no one takes offence to this, but New York, you really do need to work on your manners. As most of you know, I've lived here for almost a year now and every single nice encounter I've ever had in this city has been written in this newspaper. It's a rare occurrence here. I was losing hope on ever finding a genuinely good person when I found one. From a distance she looked a lot like most of you, with her office attire and coffee in hand, some kind of work document on her lap. She was insanely beautiful, she was honestly the most magnificent looking woman I had seen so far in this city. She looked like she belonged on the cover of vogue or walking a runway in a foreign country. For just a moment I thought maybe the New York attitude had stuck on her as well, and she would never give anybody like me the time of day. That thought vanished when she had an encounter with an army of ducks and, even if she wasn't quite happy about it, gave up the rest of her lunch for them. This is really cheesy, but she fascinated me. I really wish I had the courage to go after her and get her number or something, but I lost the opportunity. I'm crossing my fingers she'll be in the same place tomorrow. If I really did just find a genuinely good person, I need to know them. I need to know generosity and selfless people actually exist in this place._

_Always yours, New York. _

_-B_

Brittany dropped the newspaper into her lap and sighed, taking another scan of the area around her. This didn't technically make her like a stalker, right? Here she was, sitting in the exact same place the woman was yesterday. She had patiently been waiting in that exact spot for the last hour and forty five minutes, and she was starting to feel a little pathetic. This definitely had to be on some kind of stalker level surely, how would the woman even react to Brittany sitting there waiting for her? Brittany could remember how fast she left the duck scene yesterday, and could only imagine she would leave at the exact same pace. She really couldn't blame the woman, she might even be angry that a majority of New York knew about her duck scenario? Brittany didn't really think of that and she cleared her throat nervously. She really hoped that wasn't the case.

As creepy as she felt for sitting here, casually looking for the Hispanic woman's face in the crowds of people, she couldn't help it but take it as some sort of weird sign. When she left the park yesterday, all of her bad karma had left her and she didn't end up in one of those pathetic almost-crying shower situations for the forth day in a row. Brittany was a strong believer in fate, and something had to come out of meeting this woman. Whether she found a new friend in the city, or someone who was just a good person, there was something keeping her in Central Park for most of the morning. She just couldn't put her finger on it. It couldn't be a coincidence, there just had to be _something_.

But unfortunately, the beautiful duck woman was nowhere in sight. Maybe in fear of another duck attack? Whatever it was, it left Brittany feeling sad and alone once again. It was almost one o'clock in the afternoon when she gave up and decided whatever sign of fate she was feeling was wrong, and now she just felt like a loser. The only good thing to happen to her that morning happened as she was leaving the park, and a small boy gave her his red balloon because of the pout on her face. She brightened up after that and gave him a solid high five, since she really didn't have much to offer him back. The kid laughed at her and ran off to join his mom with the ducks and a pang of sadness hit her when she remembered why she was sad in the first place. She felt completely alone. She almost felt the urge to walk to the nearest rooftop and scream '_Where are all the good people?! Come here!' _but that would definitely be the second crazy thing she had done all day.

Max was waiting for her when she got back to her apartment, just like the loyal cat her was, and she gave him a small frown as she peeled off her winter jacket. "No sign of her. Maybe next time." She gave him a forced hopeful smile and set her keys down on the kitchen counter. Then she had a startling realisation as she stood alone in her apartment with a cat a few feet away, licking his paws and not even paying attention to Brittany. Now she was a stalker lady who talked to her cat. A groan passed her lips and she rested her forehead against one of the cupboards eye level with her. She really had no idea what she was doing anymore.

* * *

On the sixth of December, she did not return to Central Park. There was a feeling of urgency settled in her stomach and she couldn't quite place her finger on it, but she ignored it. She learned her mistake yesterday by waiting for so long. She couldn't depend on something like that again, it made her feel... stupid. A word she hated using under any circumstance, but this felt like a good exception. What was she thinking, ambushing some poor woman and convincing her befriend her? Sometimes excitement got the best of her and she couldn't help but think this was one of those situations. She made a deal with herself not to dwell on it any further and just lock it away as a nice memory of a stranger.

Instead, she chose to spend the day at the Bronx Zoo. It was cold and there were a lot of people, but there were three things in life she was absolutely passionate about, those being dancing, true love and animals. And her love for animals was like no other. Her face brightened up when she came across her favorite animals, much like most of the kids around her who would desperately cling to their parents leg and point excitedly at the animal on display. A great sense of longing washed over her at the sight. Her mom would always take her here when she was little, and on most of her birthdays up until the last one she spent with her. It was a bittersweet moment to remember, standing in the middle of a crowded zoo surrounded by families and couples, but there was a part of her brain that told her to stop feeling sorry for herself and just enjoy the animals.

And that's exactly what she did. Once she learned to just relax and enjoy herself, a small group of kids were more interested in being next to Brittany than they were being next to their parents. Her enthusiasm and giddiness radiated off onto the children, and she found herself spilling random facts about the her favorite animals to the little group she had with her. They would respond with awed _ooh'_s and _ahh_'s and Brittany would just grin happily back at them. While the kids were looking fascinatingly at a large Gorilla and the baby she was carrying, Brittany had a quick look around at the kids who were standing near her. The parents were all watching from a small distance, keeping an eye on their child at the same time as taking pictures.

She had a total of eight kids following her. She didn't even know when that happened, but her bubbly persona was probably what drew them to her. Kids just understood Brittany a lot more than most adults did, and vice versa. A small tug on her leggings pulled her out of her thoughts and she looked down at the African American boy with tight curly black hair. He looked to be about four or five years old, and Brittany remembered he joined her small herd at the Lion den when she told them the roar of a lion can be heard up to five miles away. They must have been his favorite.

"Do you work here?" the boy asked, not being shy in asking his question. Standing there in his small jacket and boots, Brittany thought he was adorable.

She shook her head and smiled at him. "Nope. I came here just to see all of the animals, like you did."

"Then how come you know so much?" He questioned again, his little eyebrows furrowing in question. Yes, definitely a cute kid.

Brittany shrugged again and looked up at the Gorilla exhibit in front of her, then back down at the little boy. She thought maybe it was better to explain in a way he would really understand. Kneeling down to his level, she noticed she had gained some of the other kid's attention with the movement and smiled at them. "Do you have anything that you really really _really_ love?" she asked the small boy.

"Pretzels!" He answered immediately, causing Brittany's grin to grow.

"Same! But not really what I was getting at," she shuffled more comfortably on her knees so she could explain better. "Something with a bigger variety, like sports, or movies, televisions shows, cars-" "Cars!" the boy interrupted, his face lighting up at the subject. "I love toy cars. I have a whole bunch of them at home and I bring them to school with me," he rambled, while digging deep into his pocket for something. "My mom said I shouldn't in case I lose them 'cause they cost money, but I bring them anyway." He stated proudly, pulling a toy car the size of his small palm out of his pocket to show Brittany.

Brittany's eyebrows had risen somewhere in his little speech because of how much had spilled out of his tiny little mouth at the subject, but she couldn't control the smile that took over her face when he held out the car for her to take a look at it. It was nice that he trusted with her with something like this, she understood it could be a bit of a challenge with some children and their prized possessions. Gently, she picked up the car lying on his palm and lifted it up to inspect it. She made her eyebrows furrow deeply and her lips to purse in thought, making a small _hm _noise as she twisted the car around in her hand. "And do you know what kind of car this is?"

"A Camaro," he told her, his face lighting up again. "Like the one from Transformers!"

Brittany gave a nod of approval and smiled at the boy. "Well, when you're as passionate about something like _this-_" she paused, holding the car up in front of him, "-you want to know absolutely everything about it, right?" The little boy nodded enthusiastically, listening intently to every word she said. "That's exactly how I feel about animals."

The boy's lips formed an 'o' shape and he nodded understandingly, before grinning up at her. "Cool."

The children who had turned around to listen to Brittany talk had turned their attention back to the Gorillas, soaking up as much of the zoo experience as they could. The parents who had been following close behind and snapping pictures every now and then, stepped forward to let their child know it was time for lunch.

"Brandon Jay Williams!" A voice broke through them and the small boy she had just been talking to muttered a small _uh-oh._ "Tell me that is _not _a toy car in that ladies hand? How many times have I told you not to bring those with you, do you know how many you lost last month? You _know_ I don't approve when you do this-" the little boy's face turned guilty and anxious about being in trouble, something he must get into trouble for a lot, and turned to Brittany. "Keep it, she might think it's yours." He said in a hurry, running back to where his mother was waiting for him.

Brittany looked down at the small car in her hand and back up at the boy who was talking to a woman with a stroller, her hand on her hip as she looked down at her son who looked like he was giving an explanation. She smiled when the mother just rolled her eyes in an '_I've-heard-this-one-before' _way and leaned down to hold his hand as they walked away, possibly to go have lunch like the rest of the kids. With his free hand, Brandon as she heard his mother call him, waved to Brittany with a smile on his face before walking out of sight.

That was when she realised she was left in the Gorilla exhibit, still kneeling on the floor by herself. She laughed softly and stood up, again rolling the car over in her hands as she looked at it. She felt touched that he gave her one of his favorite toys, even if it just was to get out of trouble, and _aw_'d to herself over it. That was definitely the cutest kid encounter she had ever had.

* * *

It was December 11th, Christmas was slowly approaching and usually Brittany would be ecstatic to start setting up decorations around her apartment and writing a list of things she wanted to buy for her friends. But everybody she made a solid friendship with didn't live in New York City, and the only thing she had really gotten from her high school friends where store bought Christmas cards with a small heartfelt message inside. Of course she didn't complain, it was the effort that really counted. She also didn't complain because the majority of the people who sent her things usually left a candy cane in the envelope and that in itself was a gift.

Sure, she had a few casual friends in the city. A group of five girls swooped in on her one night, after just recently moving to New York while she was dancing in a club. The way she was dancing impressed a lot of people, and the group just insisted on her having drinks with them. It just sort of escalated from there. They were a bit older than Brittany and only really interested in going out and getting drunk every weekend, and that wasn't something she was into. At first she went along with it because she got to dance at some of New York's best clubs that they got her into, but the peer pressure to drink with them would be overbearing sometimes and she would be forced to fake an illness to avoid going out, choosing to stay home with her cat and containers of Chinese food. Occasionally those girls would call sometimes and ask to hang out or go to a new club opening, and she just didn't have the energy or patience with them to accept. There were only so many times a person could take being asked how their love life was going while some kind of fruity cocktail was pushed in their direction, all the while being secretly judged by all of them.

Really, the only way she could describe those girls would be if the characters from Sex and the City met the women from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and had children. _They _would be the children.

With Christmas coming up and the prospect of possibility spending it alone, she decided maybe it was a good idea to give them a call. Going out with a few people she considered her only friends, _quotation marks on the word friends_, in the city sounded less depressing than what she would do otherwise. It wasn't like she had some fancy date she could catch up with, or spend the holidays with their family in their home town. She had never really had a girlfriend or boyfriend around Christmas, it was usually just spent with her family for most of her life.

That was enough to break her out of the thoughts that had been consuming her for most of the day. A small lump gathered in Brittany's throat as she remembered how her holidays would be spent before her mother passed away. Every family had their traditions, and Brittany definitely wanted to keep her alive. She made a small promise to do that even if she was by herself.

Clearing her throat of the lump that had wedged there during her deep thoughts, Brittany took a sip from her water bottle that was almost near empty, carefully swallowing because of her laying down position, and took another deep breath to make sure her breathing was back to normal. The grass was starting to make her arms feel itchy but she couldn't find the strength to move from where she was. Her eyes were shut and if she wasn't in the middle of a park, she could just fall asleep with how exhausted and spent she felt.

For the last forty-five minutes, Brittany had switched between sprinting and a slow jog around the block. The last time she had really dedicated any time to working out would have been months ago because of her funk, and she was starting to feel the take out food catching up on her. Though Brittany was active everyday and still had a perfect shape, she wanted to be in a better state of mind about being healthy and doing more things to stay in shape. Of course she had a _little_ more motivation than she would like to admit.

She made the decision an hour ago. Tonight, she was going to call her New York "friends" and ask to tag along to get drinks with them. Though they kept their mouth shut while you were standing in front of them, their expression told novels about how they felt about certain things. The time she wore a salmon colored dress with yellow heels to ladies night got a lot of forced smiles and a lot of comments like '_That looks great! Have you lost weight?' _or '_Before you, I didn't think anybody could rock that color. But just look at you!' _while their faces were tight and unconvincing. She had the urge to tell them to never getting into the acting business because they were terrible, and Brittany didn't want to be judged by them of all people. So she shamefully made an effort whenever she caught up with them, no matter how much she didn't want to cave under the pressure of being judged. She was only human, after all.

And that's where she found herself, laying flat on her back, _exhausted _after an intense running session. It might not have been the safest idea to collapse in the park and shut her eyes while she had loud music playing on her iPod. Just to make sure, she titled her head to the side and slowly opened her eyes while adjusting to the light. On the bright side, nobody in the park looked like they were going to mug her or do anything worse. In fact, nobody in the park looked to be over the age eight. School must have just finished for the day, and fifty or so kids were playing on the different sets of equipment, and from what she could see, squealing loudly at one another. She was _definitely _not pressing stop on the Rihanna song she was listening to just to hear that.

With a small grunt she pushed herself off the grass and into a standing position, brushing most of the grass off her back while scanning the area at most of the kids. For a brief second she wondered if little Brandon was there, but the likelihood of that was rather slim, since she went to the Bronx zoo. A fair way away from the park she was at. The small gold Camaro toy he had given her five days ago was perched on a shelf in her living room, and she had the urge to smile whenever she saw it. If the child she hoped to eventually have was half as cute as he was, she would show them off at every given opportunity.

Thinking maybe it was slightly a bad idea that she was the only adult in a park, watching children, she picked up her water bottle and started walking in the direction of her apartment. Besides, she should be getting home anyway. She had an appearance to work on for some very snooty New Yorkers.

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me," a frustrated Brittany mumbled to herself. It was twenty past eight, which mean she had another ten minutes to meet her friends in Brooklyn, but she just noticed her most recent problem. For most of the night Brittany had been digging through her closet, looking for something that looked classy, but with Brittany's personality and how she was after a few drinks, it had to look flirty as well. And of course, she couldn't find something that matched the shoes she had picked out. After compromising and changing her shoes to match a nice black dress with shoulder straps, she had only just noticed the gaping tear near the thigh area. On any other day she would have laughed at the irony of the hole being there, but she was late and she was getting more stressed out by the second.

With a loud and dragging groan, she stomped away from her mirror and back to her closet, flinging her dress off in a quick movement. Luckily her make up would suit any color she wore, as she opted for the black smokey eye look, so she wasn't completely doomed. After a few moments of holding up dresses against her body and imagining what they would look like on her, she settled for a dark blue skin tight dress. It was her go to party dress and something she wore often, but she was out of options and out of time to decide. Trading her bra for a strapless one, she was soon snuggling her body into the tight material and looking for a pair of matching shoes.

Max hadn't moved from his place on her bed since she started getting ready, and decided it was time to let out a loud meow. Brittany tensed up for a moment, forgetting he was there before turning around and gesturing her body to her cat. "How do I look?" she asked settling her hand on one hip in a pose and waiting for any kind of meow or slow head bob, just _anything. _After a few seconds of silence she sighed and dropped her arm from her waist. "What would you know about dresses, you're a boy." She turned back around to continue her hunt for a pair of shoes, before she settled upon a tall pair of black stilettos. She couldn't stop the silent victory '_Yes!' _ that came out of her lips at her find, waving them in the air briefly for Max to see. "For a moment I thought my bad luck was coming back." She mused, sitting down on the edge of her bed to put them on.

Thinking back on her bad luck brought her to the only memory she had of that stranger, and a small smile spread across her lips. It was one of those memories that you could just look back on and smile at, no matter where you were or what you were doing, because it was _that _adorable. It seemed like forever ago that she saw her in the park, and she wondered what that stranger was doing on a Friday night. Did she have a large group of friends to go out with, or did she prefer to stay home with take out like Brittany often did? Maybe she had a late night at the office, or a partner to go out with for dinner? Brittany shook her head at herself in a surprised way, wondering why she was even thinking about this stuff.

She was distracted enough that she hadn't even started to put on her heels, and all thoughts of the Hispanic woman vanished when she realised she was definitely going to be late, and not on the right road to impressing her "_friends_" for the night.

* * *

"And then she told me that her boyfriend- you remember Marcus, right? She told me that her boyfriend was caught in bed with some skank from Detroit. I mean, you think he'd have some class, right?" Bethany, one of the main gossipers of the group, shook her head and downed the rest of her drink. She might also be the biggest drinker, but nobody spoke of that out loud. Brittany didn't respond and sipped on her own drink, orange juice and vodka. She was the only one on her second glass, and she'd already been there for an hour. Bethany just polished off her fifth glass of some expensive cocktail with a sexual sounding name, while the rest of the girls were on their forth.

"Marcus? Do you really think he has class if he was with _Anne _in the first place?" The oldest of the group, Estelle, had a voice that had been strangled with years of smoking cigarettes and various cigars. It was croaky and she sounded like a man sometimes, but again, that was something they never said out loud. It was observed. She gave a deep throaty chuckle after her joke, and the other four girls joined in with her. Brittany just gave a small smile in response and took another sip, a larger one, of her near empty drink while trying to avoid eye contact with them all.

"You're awfully quiet, Brittany." Mindy, was a twenty-something dancer who lived the closest to Brittany. When Brittany learned that she was also a dancer, she lit up at the idea of having a dancing friend in the city who could possibly show her the best dancing places. That was until Mindy politely informed her just exactly what kind of dancing she did, and how Mindy turned into Mandy on those nights. It was followed up with a quick '_Only the private dances, of course. I have to keep _some _dignity.' _Brittany wasn't entirely sure Mindy knew the meaning of the word dignity, seeing as her breasts were almost completely spilling out of her top.

Brittany cleared her throat at the sudden attention turned onto her and shrugged her shoulders lightly. "It was just a long day, that's all." She reassured, hoping that would get all of the attention back off her and onto Marcus and Anne's most recent break up. She didn't even know who Anne was.

"Oh come on Brittany, you can tell us," Sharon, possibly one of the more attractive women of the group, tapped Brittany's hand in what was suppose to be a comforting manner but was just a sloppy slap. "We're your best friends." She stated. It wasn't a question or something they had ever discussed. She just simply stated it like it was a fact. It triggered a small nerve in Brittany, but she kept calm and collected as she sent them all a reassuring smile. "Trust me ladies, I'm fine. I just had a big work out today."

The women at the table seemed to take that as the truth and go back to talking about Anne's love failures. She wondered if they ever spoke of Brittany like this when she wasn't here with them. _Thank god_, she thought to herself. A waiter who had been assigned to serve their table, correction; ordered by a drunken Bethany to come back every ten minutes, politely asked them if they wanted another round of drinks, and this time Brittany finally put her hand up. She needed it if she wanted to deal with these people. Maybe it was the recent discovery she had, that it was extremely hard to find a genuine person in New York, or she was just too busy drinking and dancing the other times, but she never really noticed how truly awful they were. All they did was gossip and talk about things Brittany wasn't interested in, like Fashion Week or the newest diet ideas. If she was being honest with herself, she was only hanging out with them because she had nobody else. It was terrible, and she felt a certain level of guilt and shame, but it was better than being completely alone, right? She didn't even know anymore.

Stuck in her own thoughts again, she didn't notice the drink being placed in front of her until Glitter, yes, that's right, _Glitter, _brought her back to reality_. _"Oh honey, you're really sticking with that same drink? Mix it up a little!" She said, sucking greedily on her straw of some odd colored looking drink. It wasn't said in an accusing way, Brittany knew that much. Glitter was born and raised in Queens, and married a man who played for some professional basketball team. She had money and class like the rest of the ladies, but she was also the nicest among them. She was the girl who got on the bucking bull first that one time they went to the cowboy bar, she was the only one who could drink so much and be able to walk without stumbling, and she basically pushed everyone out of the way when her favorite song, '_1, 2 Step' _played at any club_. _She was really the only one who knew what it was like living at the bottom, but she still talked like she had lived at the top her whole life. Of course Glitter wasn't her real name, she wasn't _completely _sure what it was. Although one time she heard Bethany drunkenly call her _Latifa. _Brittany had no idea if there was a connection there.

Brittany smiled, genuinely, and shook her head. "_Someone _has to stay sober, you're all a mess." This was something that happened. The pressure to drink more and stronger drinks. It happened every time.

Glitter shook her head, taking no for an answer and making a move to get out of her seat. "Uh-uh, no way, you're the only one here who can shake her booty, and we all know you shake it better with a little liquid courage," she raised her eyebrows in a way that said '_This is happening, you're drinking,' _and pulled Brittany out of her chair, towards the direction of bar. Mindy followed closely after them, yelling something about having an equally as good shaking booty. Brittany swallowed nervously. She knew exactly what was about to happen.

* * *

She was right. It happened. _I was right. I was right. I was right. _The words in her mind matched perfectly in time with the hammer to her skull. It felt like Bethany, Estelle, Mindy, Sharon and Glitter were personally taking turns thumping her on the back of her skull and drunkenly laughing afterwards. A small groan escaped her lips and she might have mumbled '_stop'_ to no one in particular. Her mouth was too numb to tell. Her tongue ran slowly across her bottom lip, checking it was still there. It was, luckily. Just as she got to the corner of her mouth, her tongue touched something cold and hard and she pulled her tongue quickly back into her mouth at the feeling. It didn't taste like anything in particular. Her eyebrows scrunched forward and she decided to ignore it. Opening her eyelids right now seemed like a large task, one she didn't want to do.

"Coffee?" A bright voice asked. _Way _too bright for Brittany's liking at the moment. She groaned and lifted her hand up to shield where the noise came from, waving her hand aimlessly in the air for a few seconds before it dropped again. Onto a cold, hard surface. "I'll take that as a yes." The woman said, and sound of fading footsteps followed soon after. Brittany didn't reply with an '_I'm not a big fan of caffeine_' like she normally would have, nor did she open her eyes to find out who it was. God. The thumping was getting louder as the sound of more footsteps approached, but quickly faded away just as quickly as they came. It was confusing her and she didn't like it. Eventually she knew she had to check if she was in some stranger's bed or something. Or on their floor, maybe. That felt like a bigger possibility.

Her left eye opened first, and she was met with the skin on her left arm. She was definitely resting on her face on her forearm, she concluded. That would explain the tingling feeling in her fingertips. Her right eye followed shortly after and her eyesight was blurry for a few seconds, slowly adjusting to the light that was coming through the glass window a few feet away from her face. Where she could see people. Cars. A road. A _street. _Sitting up quickly out of panic wasn't a good idea, her head spun and she felt a wave of nausea pass over her. She shut her eyes tightly and swallowed hard, tasting the alcohol from last night still on her tongue. On top of that, her mouth was incredibly dry. Once the nausea had eventually passed, she carefully opened her eyes and let them adjust to her surroundings. This was definitely not somebody's apartment. This was a diner. Correction. This was a diner, with _people _inside.

If Brittany wasn't so distraught with pain and had a small urge to throw up, she would have been horrified. The hungover, slightly still intoxicated Brittany just accepted her fate with a huff. At least the diner wasn't crowded with people, only about ten or so people. Good. She must look like a mess.

A girl with the name tag _Holly _came bounding towards her with too much enthusiasm for this time of day, she really didn't even know what time it was, with a fresh pot of coffee in her hand. She gave Brittany a megawatt smile as she poured her a large mug full. "Don't worry, we get this quite a lot." Holly said, in a quieter voice than earlier. She smiled sympathetically at her and turned to leave before Brittany caught her wrist.

"Where exactly am I?" she questioned in a croaky voice, her eyes squinting up at the girl's face. She might actually be attractive if Brittany's vision was completely clear. All she could see was dark hair in some type of bun. So she couldn't be quite sure.

"Julie's Diner. On the corner of West 11th street." The waitress responded, only to get a blank look staring back at her from Brittany. "_West Village_."

Brittany visibly relaxed. That wasn't far from her apartment in Alphabet City. And no, she did not move there because of the name. Maybe. "Thank you." She said to the waitress, sinking further back in her chair.

"No problem. I'll bring you some breakfast." She replied, not giving Brittany the option to say no. It was a good idea though, she skipped dinner the night before and got drunk on an empty stomach. Not the best idea in the world. Listening to her "friends" while they convinced her to drink wasn't the best idea either, but she went along with it and now she was paying the price. She couldn't even clearly remember what happened after they started dancing to that new Jason DeRulo song. How had she gotten from Brooklyn, all the way to a tiny diner in West Village? And apparently slept there, in the same clothes as the night before.

She groaned as she dug into her purse, which was luckily sitting on the booth seat next to her, and picked up her compact mirror. She licked the tip of her finger and tried to wipe some of the smudged make up away from underneath her eyes, then gave up and used a napkin. After a successful five minutes of making herself look neater and more presentable, which included combing through some of the knots in her hair with a fork, she looked almost the same as she did before she went out the night before. In her opinion, now she didn't look like a hungover drunken mess.

Brittany decided as she cut into her eggs and bacon, using the spare fork, of course, that Holly was a life saver. It hit the spot and she let out appreciative moans every now and then, sending Holly a thumbs up with her mouth full when she looked in her direction. Now that her mind wasn't so foggy, she could see herself coming back to this place. It was nice, quiet, and the breakfast was amazing. She had no idea what kind of bacon she was eating but it was orgasmic, and she devoured the lot. She was feeling fifty percent better when she finished, and gently wiped her face with her napkin.

Holly was some kind of physic or something, because she was at Brittany's side after she finished and taking Brittany's untouched, and now cold coffee away. "Would you like anything else?"

"Just the bill would be great, thank you." Brittany replied, shrugging her shoulders lightly. "I kind of have to get home and wash the smell of tequila off of me." Holy sent her a smile and took the dirty dishes back behind the large counter of the diner, where more people had started to pile in on the stools. Now that the room wasn't spinning, she could take a proper look at the place. The clock on the wall read _9:56am, _which was pretty early to be awake after a night of heavy drinking. She was pretty proud of herself for waking up early, before most of the breakfast rush of customers came in, like they were now. It was a simple diner, with red booths and white tiling. It looked eighties in a way, and Brittany could only imagine the large chocolate milkshakes they probably had here.

Spiked with interest, Brittany picked up one of the menus to her left and skimmed through some of the meals they had to offer. Of course, they had any kind of flavor milkshake and those traditional large ice cream sundaes. She was sold on this place. She definitely had to come back.

Her eyes only left the menu for a brief second, looking up at someone just passed Brittany's booth and had their back faced to her. Brittany's heart leapt into her throat for a moment. As much as she felt like a perve for thinking it, she knew that backside. She had seen that frame before. But surely there was no way it could be? There were literally tens of millions of people living in New York. The chances of running into _her_,_ here_? Impossible.

The woman who had walked passed soon seated herself in booth a few away from hers, facing her direction.

God, she looked different when she wasn't being chased by ducks. Still mind blowingly attractive nonetheless.

Brittany sat, mouth agape, looking at the woman who hadn't even looked in Brittany's direction since she sat down. Her eyes were glued to her phone in a focused way, not even bothering to look at the menu as she taped away in silence.

"Here you go!" Holly's voice made Brittany jump and flick her gaze up to meet Holly's with a confused look on her face, who looked back at her slightly cornered. "Your bill?"

"Oh," Brittany breathed, digging into her purse to find enough cash to pay for her breakfast. Holly gave another warm grin and took the tip Brittany gave her with an appreciative look. "Thank you. Have a nice day." She said, sauntering off to wait on other people.

Brittany looked back over at the woman, who's name she didn't even know, and breathed deeply. She was unsure of what to do, because one hand, she didn't want to let the woman out of her sight again without a name or number, anything. She would hate herself all over again. But on the other hand, she was still in last night's clothes, with last night's make up and smell of alcohol oozing off of her, and she wasn't even wearing shoes. God knows where they went missing, but they definitely weren't on her feet.

Holly walking passed her again caught her attention and without thinking she reached out and grabbed her elbow, hopefully not too roughly, and scooted closer to her on the booth so she didn't have to speak too loudly. "Sorry," she said, just realising what she did was a bit overbearing. Holly just gave her a confused smile and tilted her head. "You see that woman over there? Do you think if I wrote my number on a napkin, you could give it to her?" Brittany pointed with one finger in her direction, and could see she was still furiously tapping away on her phone.

Holly looked over at her and her face warmed with recognition. "Oh, you mean San-" -'Holly! More people are piling in, we need you," a passing waitress said in a hurry, reaching the woman's booth to serve her. Her eyes finally left her phone, but only to look up at the waitress. Brittany frowned deeply.

"Look, she eats here almost everyday for breakfast. Maybe you could stop by and give her your number then?" Holly gave her a reassuring smile before quickly getting back to work, walking straight past the woman of main conversation and back behind the counter.

Almost. Every. Day. She had a place she could possibly see this woman again. That was all she needed. She casted one last look in the woman's direction, only to see she was back to typing on her phone with a concentrated look on her face. Yes, she would definitely be seeing this woman again.

* * *

Now sitting in the safety of a taxi, Brittany pulled out her phone from her purse, which has a ridiculously small amount of battery life left. She didn't care, she was grinning from ear to ear. Her positive attitude on fate had been restored and she really only had one person to thank. Her phone might die before she even sends the text but she doesn't care. Her fingers work quick and she could almost feel the happiness bubble over inside her when she hits send, seeing the message had sent.

To: Glitter  
_10:04am_

Thank you! Thank you thank you thank you! Thank you! Thank you thank you thank you! Thank YOU! Thank you!


End file.
